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Good morning Father Bellon,

I’m a 33 year old man, I found your advice column online, and I read some of your answers. I found them detailed, theologically correct, and enriched with proper references. I am not a Christian, I do not adhere to any religion, but I am aware of the importance of religion in the history of mankind. I therefore think it is important to learn about different religions; in particular, the knowledge of the Christian religion is fundamental if we want to understand today’s society.

I have few questions about something I find extremely relevant and decisive in the Christian religion: miracles. How are miracles defined? If I understand correctly, according to the Christians, a miracle is an act attributed directly to God, which goes beyond the natural order. Is this correct? How is the natural order determined, according to Christianity? Is an act beyond the natural order defined as such by the fact that it is not explainable by man through the natural law that man has knowledge of?

Let’s take a person who has pancreatic cancer, which has already metastasized. The doctors state that surgical intervention, or even just a curative therapy, is impossibile, and they predispose the protocol for palliative care. During the following appointment, the doctor notices a positive change in the patient’s state of health and, after many rigorous examinations, it is clear that the cancer and the metastases regressed unexpectedly and unexplainably. The patient is now monitored and, years later, he is still in good health, and all his organs are cancer-free. Can this be defined as a miracle? The fact that medical praxis, and with it the scientific knowledge which medicine uses, was unable to explain in any way what happened (the recovery of a patient who was considered doomed) lead to consider this a possible miracle?

Another question: is it correct to define sacraments administered in the Catholic Church also as miracles? I know that each one of them (especially Baptism and the Eucharist, but the other ones as well) causes an “ontological” change, not explainable according to scientific law, ascribed to God. I will be thankful if you decide to respond, if you decide to publish this letter I ask you to protect my anonymity.

Greetings

Dear friend,

1. I’m sorry that you have yet to know Christ and you still have not experienced the real world. Everything we see or hear is just a shadow, or a sign, which points to another life, another world, which is not just the next world, but it is the one many believers in Christ have already entered.

But we can talk about this another time, if you wish.

I will now answer your questions. 

2. A miracle is that which is done by God “against the order of the whole created nature” (S. Thomas, Summa theologiae, I, 110, 4).

However, Saint Thomas also adds: “But it is not enough for a miracle if something is done outside the order of any particular nature; for otherwise anyone would perform a miracle by throwing a stone upwards, as such a thing is outside the order of the stone’s nature. So for a miracle is required that it be against the order of the whole created nature. But God alone can do this, because, whatever an angel or any other creature does by its own power, is according to the order of created nature; and thus it is not a miracle. Hence God alone can work miracles.” (Ib.).

3. Saint Thomas also said, and this statement helps us understand why the Church is never in a rush to claim that something is a miracle: “Properly speaking, as said above, miracles are those things which are done outside the order of the whole created nature. But as we do not know all the power of created nature, it follows that when anything is done outside the order of created nature by a power unknown to us, it is called a miracle as regards ourselves.

So when the demons do anything of their own natural power, these things are called “miracles” not in an absolute sense, but in reference to ourselves. In this way the magicians work miracles through the demons” (Ib., I, 110, 4, ad 2).

4. And also: “It is a matter of debate whether they are called signs and lying wonders, because he will deceive the senses of mortals by imaginary visions, in that he will seem to do what he does not […] They are said to be real, because the things themselves will be real, […] but they will not be real miracles, because they will be done by the power of natural causes, […] whereas the working of miracles which is ascribed to a gratuitous grace, is done by God’s power for man’s profit.

5. In the case that you mentioned – considering that it is not explainable by the laws of nature – I think it is attributable to a miraculous event. At least it is miraculous for us, if not miraculous in itself, to use Saint Thomas’ words.

In the Catholic Church, a specific commission of experts, scientists, theologians, and doctors is called to pronounce a verdict. However, the final approval of the Pope is required.

6. With regards to your second question, the answer is negative, because miracles, like all other charisms strictly speaking (those Saint Paul lists in 1 Cor 12) are only supernatural events in the way they express themselves, not in their substance.

In other words, a miracle has, as its effect, something that belongs to the natural order. Such is, for example, a miraculous healing, the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, the resurrection of the dead, speaking unknown languages – Saint Dominic once spoke Deutsch in order to nourish the souls of his travel companions.

What is supernatural is the way in which that particular event happened, and its cause, because it arises from a divine motion.

But the substance, the reality, is of the natural order.

Sacraments, on the other hand, are supernatural in their effect, aside from their cause.

Such is the grace of God, which is also called sanctifying grace, because it is the infusion in the soul of the life of God and of His very presence.

For this reason, theologians rightly say that the Sacraments are supernatural in their substance (quoad substantiam) while miracles are only supernatural in the way they express themselves (quoad modum).

I thank you for these questions, I recommend you to the Lord so that He fills you with every grace (both quoad substantiam and quoad modum!) and I bless you.

Father Angelo